“Then… let’s go. These things won’t move by themselves.”

The sun was already disappearing beyond the horizon as the three people made their way to the heart of the forest. Hiromi, having more strength that the two of her companions combined, carried most of the bags by herself. That’s the least she could do to help after Shion and Kaani went out of their way to steal the necessities to help out their newly made friends. Well, it wasn’t exactly stealing, they took the supplies from their own houses after all, but it surely felt like it.

They still needed to find some supplies that would help them survive colder temperatures in their shared home. Stuff that Shion and Kaani brought will definitely help them out but it most likely won’t be enough. Especially since the building that they resided in could use some help in itself.

It’s not that it was in the worst shape, but it clearly could have been better. After all, it was left without an owner for quite a long time and anything would begin to rot or crumble on itself after a while with no maintenance. Effole had claimed to have been checking on it once every now and then, but with a schedule as packed as hers, it would be hard to also keep on fixing some house in the middle of nowhere.

“So…”, Kaani began as to finally break the silence between them. “Where exactly are we going?”

Her eyes laid on Shion, with the most confused expression on her face, as if she wanted to say “what the hell did you get me into??”

“Right, right. Forgot to fill you in on all the stuff, my bad”, the other human replied. “So, imagine that supernatural creatures actually exist-”

“Oh man…” Kaani’s eyes grew in bewilderment.

“I know, I know, crazy stuff but listen...”

Hiromi was partially listening to Shion’s attempts at explaining the existence of otherworldly species and that some of them actually are on here on Earth, living inside some previously abandoned home and that they’re currently trying to help them. Kaani seemed to have forgotten about the demon’s existence and was now more focused on rather loudly expressing her emotions on this case. It was kind of nice to finally see her more relaxed in her presence.

Although Hiromi’s attention was rather on the scenery surrounding them. She enjoyed the silence of the forest (not including the bickering of the two people in front of her) and the slowly appearing stars which light was breaking through the treetops. The cold breeze that came with the night was just like a bliss for someone like her who comes from a comparatively way colder climate. Seriously, how can humans even exist in such conditions?

But there was something at the back of her head, telling her that something is wrong, the slowly stirring uneasiness…

A rather loud noise that came from Kaani, knocked her out of her thoughts.

“No because if not for this creature’s existence, I’d think that you actually started-”

“You think that I knew all that from the start!? I was just as surprised as you are now! And I had no one to turn to for help! I feel like even now I don’t have anybody”, Shion turned her gaze to the ground. “Like, you’re never here to help me… Sorry, never mind-”

“You never want my help. Either way, you have Ayami. Go ask her about all that supernatural stuff, I’m sure she’ll help you better. You’re both equally weird. Also you two are pretty close either way.”

She stopped in her tracks at those words, falling silent for a moment. “Maybe we were close far in the past… but not anymore. She-”

Shion held back a… sob? Hiromi could sense what she was feeling but it was a mess of seemingly everything. It was surely hard to pinpoint what exactly was going on.

“Kaani,” Hiromi interrupted their quarrel before it could escalate even more, “do you intend on staying in our house tonight?”

“I- No, I don’t- I don’t think so?”

“I see,” her gaze shifted towards the other woman. “Shion, I already asked Moshi to wait at the border for us. She will walk you back to the house and I will walk Kaani back to the city suburbs. Will you two be able to take these bags?”

Shion looked up in a bit of confusion, “I, yeah sure.” Soon her face relaxed, a small smirk appearing in the corners of her mouth. Thanks.

The tension that was present in the air around them seemed to slowly disappear. Even then, there was still something wrong but Hiromi couldn’t tell what it was.